DIVING KHASAB

Leopard Shark (Stegostoma fasciatum)

Christophe Chellapermal – www.scuba-people.com

DIVING KHASAB – EXPLORING THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ

FEATURE AND PHOTOGRAPHY ALLY LANDES

Yellowmouth moray (Gymnothorax nudivomer)

Marine Owen

One of the larger nudibranch species out slugging. Ceratosoma sp.

Marine Owen

A tiny species of sponge delicately “sponging” a spot to get noticed.

Marine Owen

Musandam Dibba is well known for its diving getaways, but the Khasab side is still relatively unexplored. Armed with a small team of photographers and videographers, Freestyle Divers invited us to set out in search of what lies beneath the surface of this part of the Strait of Hormuz to each tell our stories. It so happens, there is much to see and endless discoveries to be made.

Freestyle Divers have opened their new dive centre in the Atana Musandam and also caters to its less pricey sister hotel, the Atana Khasab, on the cliffs just across the bay. Situated 160 km from Dubai, Khasab also offers some cheaper accommodation options if you search the internet – but ask Freestyle Divers if there are any available promotional rates through the hotel for the dates you are planning to go.

THE DIVE CENTRE

The Freestyle Divers Khasab dive centre.

The stylish dive centre is designed with a photographer’s needs in mind, and their upstairs camera room has all your storage and charging requirements in place. There are still plans in the works to further the divers’ experience which will only increase the quality of this already great establishment. The changing rooms have secure lockers for all your valuables whilst you’re out on your dives, and there is a comfortable lounge area where you can help yourselves to tea and coffee and chill out before setting off once you’re kitted out.

THE IN-BETWEENS

Lunch is provided on the dives and served onboard during your surface interval in a tiffinstyle lunch box with a salad, sandwich, fruit and cake, and a big pot of sweet milky tea is ready whenever you are.

Bright pink soft corals adorn much of the dive sites in Khasab and make great subjects for macro photography. Dendronephthya sp.

Marine Owen

The yellow variety of soft corals are just as beautiful and plentiful. Dendronephthya sp.

Marine Owen

The landscapes of Musandam are just as stunning from either the Dibba or Khasab side, making the boat journey over to the dive sites a joy, especially when the seas are calm. During this particular trip, we were unfortunately touched by some unusually bad weather for this time of year and it produced some poor visibility, and in the end, some choppy seas, cutting our dives short.

A colourful starfish.

Marine Owen

With that in mind, the diving did not disappoint. Musandam has some beautiful seascapes for the wide-angle photographers and visibility does play a vital role, but there is a lot of close-up stuff there too.

THE DIVE SITES

We managed to dive 3 areas of Khasab, starting in Jazirat Abu Rashid (3 dive sites) where we saw a beautiful Leopard shark (Stegostoma fasciatum). Jazirat Musandam has several dive sites (8) to choose from depending on the sea conditions and we saw both Yellowmouth morays (Gymnothorax nudivomer) and Honeycomb morays (Gymnothorax favagineus). Jazirat Abu Sarr (3 dive sites) gave us a Jenkins’ whipray (Himantura jenkinsii) and the critically- endangered Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) – you had to be quick to spot it though! Some of the group were lucky to see other turtles during the first 2 dives.

Photos taken with my GoPro5 in RAW wide angle.

Amongst the bigger fish which Musandam is known for due to its reputed strong currents, there are plenty of smaller species to spot and find in all the nooks and crannies. Striped eel catfish (Plotosus lineatus), nudibranchs of various sizes, from minute to downright huge, all sorts of crustaceans, and the pink and yellow soft corals (Alcyonacea) including Teddy bear corals (Dendronephthya klunzingeri), and the orange common sponge (Crambe crambe) create some pretty stunning scenarios in camera. I especially love the Arabian butterflyfish (Chaetodon melapterus) which I have not seen on the Dibba side.

These are just a few of the things amongst everything else we saw during the 3 dives we did with the weather’s permission in March.

RECOMMENDATIONS IN KHASAB

If you’re staying in Khasab for an extended stay or some of your party are not diving, then there are several other unique experiences to be had. One of the highlights is to visit Khasab Castle which was built by the Portuguese in the 17 th Century and then taken over by the Omanis in 1624. It’s a small museum but worth the visit – or book a traditional half day dhow cruise and visit Telegraph Island and see the dolphins of Musandam.

FREESTYLE DIVERS

Atana Musandam, Khasab Email: darren@freestyledivers.me Tel: +968 7221 0385 www.dive-khasab.com

ATANA HOTELS

www.atanahotels.com

REQUIREMENT

Visa Requirement: e-Visa The Royal Oman Police has launched the new system to apply for your visa online. Visit this site: www.evisa.rop.gov.om 1. Register as a user. 2. Login with a username (registered email and password). 3. Click on “Apply for Visa” & pay the fee.